Static Removal on LP's

Now that's funny.......

 

I am using the original Reg Williamson anti-static spray. This uses all ingredients including Cyastat SN.

Works amazingly for me.

 

The A/C is pulling all the moisture out of the air, try a small humidifier near the turntable.

 

has anyone in Australia, ever ventured trying this stuff on a record?

 

a humidifier? how a humidifier can works remove static from a record? I don't get it...
this small ones works? Amazon.com: Humidifier »
teach me plz

 

Low humidity can result in an increase in static therefore, if you increase the humidity you can reduce the static. In my experience once your record has static, simply increasing the humidity with a humidifier won't remove it. You need to use one of the methods mention earlier in this thread e.g. wet clean, Zerostat, used dryer sheet....But keeping the humidity at the right level will help with preventing or reducing static electricity.

 

Yup

 

I've found that a cork type mat and wet cleaning kills a lot of the static electricity. I tried one of those anti-static mats back in the 70's and it would stick to the record when I took the record off the turntable.

 

$755 new, wow.

 

$755 new, wow.

 

after a good cleaning, replacing stock inner sleeves with MoFi Master Sleeves and using a Hunt EDA Mark 6 brush before play back has worked well for me.

 

Then how do you hold the carbon brush? Got a picture!?

 

My Okki Nokki builds up some static too, even with a anti static rinse step I do. Although it does help a little.
I was thinking of getting an anti stat gun but I have read about some displeased people. What do you suggest?

 

The best way to use it I heard is to pick up the record after brushing and dabing the end of the brush on the records playing surface to discharge the static there.

 

What's the humidity level of your room?

 

No idea how to check. Not very high I cant imagine. Sweden is generally a pretty dry country and on the winters like now its even worse.

 

Buy a humidifier. Seriously. We didn't have one and it was so dry that my wife and I found ourselves having itchy skin and generally being uncomfortable. Not the case since we added a humidifier and the humidity is always between 40-45%. Prior to that, it was roughly 15%. My dog was also scratching himself much more than in the summer.

To check is very easy. Buy a cheap 5-10$ device to measure it. You can find those everywhere. They look like this.

 

Im pretty sure its more complicated than so. Different environments might favor different mats.

 

Will look into it. I once tried having the shower on for about 10 minuts with all open doors but Im not sure if it helped. Would get pretty costly in the long term though ;^D

 

Oh and what humidifier did you get? Do cheaper models work well too?

 

It depends on a few factors. For instance, the size of the room you're trying to add humidity to. The bigger the room, the higher the performance you'll need. The higher you want the humidity to be and the lower it currently is, the higher the performance you'll need.

I own a house so I just added a humidifier to the furnace so the humidity would propagate throughout the whole house. If it's a single room you're trying to add humidity to, a portable humidifier is all you'd really need. It should fix your static issue and also make you more comfortable in your own home.

As for which model, I don't know which ones are available in Sweden, but any one from a reputable brand would work great. The ones with the bigger reservoirs do not need to be replenished as often but it also depends on how much space you're willing to sacrifice for one. Stick it in the corner of the room so it doesn't stand out and you should be fine.

There are two types ; sonic and evaporative. I only have experience with the latter. Some are noisier than others. Here's an article that will detail the different types for you. And you can check the Ratings tab at the top of the article for some rated suggestions, although I'd check the square-footage these units are designed to humidify before buying one.

How to Choose a Humidifier | TechGearLab

 

First thing you should do is buy a hygrometer, like the one Strat-Mangler posted. They are indeed cheap and you'll know pretty quickly how dry the air in the room is.

I myself use ultrasonic humidifiers as they have no noise. They can be more expensive and there are things you need to consider, so have a look at the link Strat-Mangler posted. It's a good place to start.

If you're looking for a reliable brand, check out the Boneco (aka Air-O-Swiss) ultrasonic humidifiers (if you want to go the ultrasonic route). They are more expensive but they are very good.

A word of warning though. Increasing the humidity in your room may not solve all your static problems. I have a major static issue and adding a humidifier helped in that the situation went from really really bad to just bad. In the summer, which are very humid in Toronto, I still have static issues. I put a record on the t/t and it has no static. When I take it off, it has static. I tried different mats too. No big changes.

Right now what works the best, at least in the short term, is a Zerostat gun. I give the record a few trigger pulls and static gone. But it can and often does come back.

One day when I get over my laziness I will try and build one of these:
[DIY design] The TNT StatTrap!

 

Thanks.

But wait, how is everything connected together in that last DIY solution? I might want to try that myself, but how do you connect the ground wire to the carbon brush effectively?

 

They solder one end (you can see it in the photos), where the brushes are, and the other must attach to the ground, on the amp I presume.

It looks like a pretty simple thing to build and I probably have most of the bits I need in my tool storage area. I only need to find some of the carbon fibres which I can get from an old brush that I can tear apart.

 

But do they solder the entire brush or just the bristles? It looks like the brush is connected to a metal plate somehow. Can you do it with any metal and then connect a screw to ground from?

Also do you just ground it to your amp or sonething else?